I was trying to start my car after a light afternoon thunder shower and now it is giving me a very poor idle to the point where it is trying not to run.

I checked under the hood and the intake did not get wet as that was my first idea. The filter is however very dirty.

I disconnected the battery after the SES light came on and after looking around the engine bay I noticed a ground wire is loose but I can't find out from where?

AS you stand facing the car it is on the very left had side of the engine bay, just behind the headlight. The end that is loose is hanging near the top pulley on the A/C/ power steering belt. If anyone can tell me where this connects to I would appreciate it. I am going to search the registry to see if I can find a close up shot of an 03 OZ engine to see where that would hook up.

If that is not it then my question is what will running and overly rich condition do to the car for an extended period of time? I just came off of a 10 hour trip and wonder if the sparkplugs could have been fouled up?

Any help would be appreciated.

WADAD

 

that wire that goes from the top part of the belt cover to the chassis is just a chassis ground (i think). is it the black and yellow wire? don't think it would do too much since coil ground is on the opposite side of the engine and goes to the battery neg.

an overly rich condition could foul your plugs and could cause such hesitation.

 

Thanks Rhyzin

let me try to post pics of the wire at least.

 

In your first pic posted, the loose end gets attached right to the timing cover under the wire attached to the gold colored bracket. At least that is where it is on mine, I just looked. It goes here....the orange wire is my ground kit wire.

 

Thanks

WADAD

 

Damn I actually knew this one and didn't even get to help. I NEVER get to answer electrical questions.

 

you'll get your chance

 

Ok Hobie here's your chance.

I just woke up with an idea. In past vehicles that I owned when the alternator went bad the car would not run. I don't remember the exact symptoms but could a bad alternator also cause the car to idle poorly? If so when I start the car, if I disconnect the battery and it dies immediately that is sign of a bad alternator right?

WADAD

 

Wadad - yeah, if you start it and disconnect the battery, the alternator keeps it running. So that would be a likely suspect.

Is the alternator making any noise? In my experience (on a couple cars ), they tend to die loudly.

 

No noise there....I have been reading through the trouble shoot threads and people with this type of problem talk about COIL PACKS. I'm at 68K and wonder if they could have gone bad also. I just had the car serviced like 5k miles ago and I would have hoped they had changed the spark plugs.

How far can you safely drive with a misfire? The nearest dealer is like 3-4 miles away but the mechanic I go to is like 20 miles away

WADAD

 

Any word on how long the coil packs last guys?

WADAD

 

Check the little stupid things too like low on gas, loose gas cap (causes same symptoms), test voltage from battery, and alternator (use digital multimeter). Just eliminate all the possibilities before spending unnecessary money. One time my friend's saturn wouldn't start and go for more than 10 feet. We replaced his fuel pressure regulator, checked the fuel lines for clogs, checked the ignition, spark plugs, everything.. lol. It turned out he was out of gas. We had put in glow gauges the week before and his gas gauge needle was 1/2 way wrong. haha We felt so dumb.

 

here's the lancer maintenance guide.
http://www.domaille.com/files/service/1e4226050c.pdf

I just see things about spark plugs.. usually you're good for 80k-100k miles on most other car's scheduled maintenance for coil packs, so I assume it should be close to that.

 

Well I can't get to the mechanic or the mechanic to me so at this point I have to go to the dealer which is my last resort.

I don't know if it's bad gas but I have half a tank right now. I checked the cap yesterday and tightened it up. The last place I put gas in was a stop in GA just North of Jacksonville. I have run through half of that gas and who knows that could also be the problem. Bad gas affects the plugs too I guess so I am hoping that is the only problem.

WADAD

 

ummm, you shouldn't disconnect the battery on an EFI system whille it's running. the battery acts as a kind of buffer. if you disconnect the battery while the car is running, you could get voltage spikes everywhere and very possibly burn something. the whole "take the battery out while the car's running" idea was around when everyone had a carbureted car. don't do it.